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Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is a
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liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and sciences. Such colleges aim to impart a broad general knowledge and develop general intellectual ca ...
in
Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popu ...
. It has a curricular emphasis on government, economics, public affairs, finance, and international relations. CMC is a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium. Founded as a
men's college In higher education, a men's college is an undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institution whose students are exclusively men. Many are liberal arts colleges. Around the world In North America United States In the United States, co-ed ...
in 1946, CMC became coeducational in 1976. The college focuses primarily on undergraduate education, but in 2007 it established the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance, which offers a master's program in finance. CMC is known for its faculty's conservative political orientation relative to comparable liberal arts colleges. , there were 1,338 undergraduate students and postgraduate students. CMC competes in the
NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their ...
's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) conference in a joint athletic program with
Harvey Mudd College Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a private college in Claremont, California, focused on science and engineering. It is part of the Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds and resources. The college enrolls 902 undergraduate students ...
and Scripps College.


History


Early history

Claremont McKenna College was founded as Claremont Men's College in September 1946 with a founding class of 86 students and seven faculty. Many of its first students were war veterans of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
attending college on the G.I. Bill. Claremont Men's College was the third Claremont College, following Pomona College and Scripps College. CMC founded with the mission to foster leadership in its students in the fields of government, economics, and international affairs. The college's motto is "''Crescit cum commercio civitas''", or "Civilization prospers with commerce".


Coeducation Issues

Following a national trend toward
coeducation Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...
among colleges such as
Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
, Williams,
Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...
and Dartmouth, Claremont Men's College faced compelling arguments to admit women in the 1970s. With support from students represented by the Associated Students of Claremont's Men College, the trustees of the college voted to admit women to CMC with a two-thirds vote. A year later, in 1976 Claremont Men's College admitted the first women to their freshman class. Jack Stark, the president of Claremont Men's College during this transition, would later say the admission of women was the college's most important moment. The women of the earliest classes of CMC are known as "Pioneers" and graduated with degrees that still bore the "Claremont's Mens College" moniker. It wasn't until 1981 that the college was renamed Claremont McKenna College after Donald McKenna, a founding trustee. In November 1989, a father of a CMC student hired a
stripper A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at a bachelor party or other private event. ...
to perform in the college's dining hall, sparking protests among some students. Then-president Jack Stark told ''
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'' he did not wish to comment on "whether
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was or was not degrading to women".


2000s

On September 27, 2007, the college announced a $200 million gift from alumnus and trustee Robert Addison Day to create the "Robert Day Scholars Program" and a master's program in
finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of f ...
. CMC literature professor Robert Faggen sent a letter signed by several other literature professors to CMC president Pamela Gann, saying they were concerned that the gift will "distort the college into a single focus trade school." In June 2020, RePEc ranked the college's economics department, the Robert Day School, as #4 in its list of top US Economics Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges. On January 30, 2012, President Gann revealed that a "high-ranking admissions official," later identified as the school's former dean of admissions, Richard C. Vos, had been inflating SAT scores reported to the '' U.S. News & World Report'' by 10–20 points over the previous six years. A 2013 ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' article opined that "such a small differential could not have significantly affected ''U.S. News & World Report'' rankings". A report commissioned by the college claimed to have found no evidence that these misrepresentations were made to inflate the school's rankings. The controversy prompted ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' to omit CMC from its annual rankings in 2013. In November 2015, the college's dean of students resigned after students protested what they called a lack of institutional resources for
marginalized Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. It is used across discipline ...
students; the dean had implied in an email that minority students didn't fit the "CMC mold" and her response to an incident of allegedly culturally appropriative Halloween costumes was seen as lacking. These protests closely followed and were associated with the 2015 University of Missouri protests. On April 6, 2017, a group of approximately 300 student protesters (many of whom attended the other Claremont Colleges) blockaded the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum in an attempt to shut down a speech by conservative pundit Heather Mac Donald. The college livestreamed the talk, as audiences were unable to enter the building. The college disciplined seven of its students who participated in the blockade, including suspending two for a semester and three for a full year. In 2021, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education ranked CMC #1 out of all colleges and universities in the United States for free speech.


Campus

The predominant architectural style of CMC's campus is California
modernism Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
, reflecting the style popular at the time of the college's founding in the 1940s. In recent years, the older, more pedestrian and utilitarian buildings have begun to be replaced by new, more ostentatious constructions, namely the Kravis Center at the western edge of campus and the $70million Roberts Pavilion athletics center.


Organization and administration

CMC is chartered as a private, non-profit organization and is a member of the seven-institution Claremont Colleges consortium. Students can take classes at any of the member colleges, and the colleges share libraries, student health, a bookstore, athletic facilities, and various student services. The privately appointed, 40-voting-member
board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit org ...
elects a president to serve as chief executive officer of the college. Hiram Chodosh is CMC's fifth president. The president has an executive cabinet of 9 vice presidents, including a VP of Students Affairs and VP of Academic Affairs.


Presidents

# George C. S. Benson, founding president (1946–1969) # Howard R. Neville (1969–1970) # Jack L. Stark (1970–1999) # Pamela Gann (1999–2013) # Hiram Chodosh (2013–present)


Academics


Rankings

'' U.S. News & World Report''s 2021 rankings rated Claremont McKenna 6th-best liberal arts college in the United States. '' Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education'' US College Rankings 2020 ranked Claremont Mckenna as the 6th-best liberal arts college. In 2017, ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' ranked Claremont McKenna as the 13th-best among 650 colleges, universities and service academies in the nation. Claremont McKenna is the 10th-most selective college in the nation according to collegesimply. Claremont McKenna is ranked 30th nationally in "Best Universities and Colleges by Salary Potential" by
Payscale Payscale is an American compensation software and data company which helps employers manage employee compensation and employees understand their worth in the job market. The website was launched on January 1, 2002. It was founded by Joe Giordano a ...
.


Admissions

CMC is classified as "most selective" by '' U.S. News & World Report''. For the incoming class of 2024, CMC accepted 633 applicants (11.2%) from a pool of 5,632.


Financial aid

Tuition for the 2018–2019 school year is $54,160 ($27,080 per semester) for a full-time student, and room and board is on average $15,930 ($7,965 per semester for double room and 12 meals per week), for a total annual cost of attendance of $70,212.50 with other expected costs included. CMC admits students on a need-blind basis and guarantees to meet the financial need of all its students as determined by the FAFSA and the
College Board The College Board is an American nonprofit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an association of colleges, it runs a ...
's
CSS Profile The CSS Profile, short for the College Scholarship Service Profile, is an online application created and maintained by the United States-based College Board that allows college students to apply for non-federal financial aid. It is primarily desi ...
. For the 2016–2017 year, CMC awarded a total of $27,021,024 in financial aid. 38.9% of students received need-based financial aid with an average total grant aid package of $42,445, while 5.8% of students received merit aid, with an average award of $15,744. The college, which operates on a semester system, has 12 academic departments, 11 research institutes and 33 on-campus majors, the most popular of which are economics, government, psychology, economics-accounting and international relations. However, as a member of the Claremont Colleges, students at CMC also have the option to study any major that is not offered at CMC given that one of the other colleges has such a major. A popular example is computer science, which is offered by both
Harvey Mudd College Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a private college in Claremont, California, focused on science and engineering. It is part of the Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds and resources. The college enrolls 902 undergraduate students ...
and Pomona College. The student to faculty ratio is 8:1 with an average class size of 18. 85% of the classes have fewer than 19 students. The six-year graduation rate is 93.3%, and the freshman retention rate is 92.7%.


Curriculum

About one third of the classes students complete are general education requirements. These include a humanities seminar and a writing seminar their first year, three semesters of a foreign language or demonstrated proficiency, a mathematics or computer science course, one laboratory science course and three semesters of a P.E. course or two seasons on a sports team. In addition, students must complete at least two humanities courses and three social science courses, all in areas outside the student's major. All students must complete a senior thesis, which can be either one-semester in length or, to receive departmental honors, two semesters. Claremont McKenna's curricular emphasis is on its social sciences, particularly economics, government, international relations, and psychology. CMC also offers an Oxford-style tutorial Philosophy, Politics, and Economics major with two separate tracks of 14 students each. Other multi-disciplinary majors include management engineering, philosophy and public affairs, science and management, econ-accounting, biology-chemistry, and environment, economics, and politics (EEP). CMC also offers the Robert A. Day 4+1 BA/MBA, in which students receive both their BA from Claremont McKenna and their MBA from the Drucker School of Management at
Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate ( Pomona College, Claremont McKenna ...
in 5 years. CMC's science program is currently offered through the Keck Science Department of Claremont McKenna, Pitzer and Scripps Colleges. The Keck Science Department offers a double year-long introductory science class to allow more flexibility than the former 3 year-long introductory biology, chemistry and physics courses that most science majors must complete. In October 2018, CMC announced that it plans to withdraw from Keck to create its own science department. Many CMC students study abroad or participate in one of two domestic programs, one in Washington, D.C. and the other in the
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Cou ...
. In both of these programs, students complete a full-time internship with a business or government department, remaining full-time students taught at night by CMC professors stationed in the two locations". More than 75% percent of students attend graduate school within five years of graduation, and those who choose to go straight to the workforce average a starting salary of $57,156 for the class of 2014, with average signing bonuses averaging $7,905. Of those CMC graduates applying to medical school, 80% get into their first or second choice institutions.


Campus life

CMC is known for its active party scene and relatively lenient policies on alcohol use. Although the college's social scene draws students from the other schools in the consortium and is enjoyed by many, it has also drawn criticism. A 2012 Campus Climate Task Force report published by the school described a "pervasive, 'hyper-masculine' and heteronormative ethos at CMC" and noted that "while female students are valued as friends and intellectual colleagues during the day, at night and particularly on the weekends, female students reportedly feel they are objectified targets for sex or 'hook-ups.'" Since 2015, CMC and the other consortium schools have ramped up efforts to reform this culture, including hiring a dedicated Title IX staff member, creating the 7c EmPOWER Center, conducting bystander training under the Teal Dot certification and the establishing a student-run advocates organization that provides 24/7 support for victims of sexual assault. There is also an abundance of substance-free social programming available for students, notably including events planned by the College Programming Board such as the annual Disneyland trip as well as other on-campus events like arts and service events. As of fall 2019, student enrollment consisted of 1,335 degree-seeking undergraduate students. The median family income of CMC students is $201,300, the second-highest in California, with 58% of students coming from the top 10% highest-earning families and 15% from the bottom 60%. The student body is roughly equally split between men and women, and 21% of students are first-generation. 95% freshman return for their second year. Students hail from 47 US states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, and 46 foreign countries, including 16% of students who identify as nonresident alien.


The Claremont Colleges

Claremont McKenna College is a member of the Claremont Colleges Consortium, and most social activities revolve around the five colleges, or "5Cs". Claremont McKenna College, Pomona College, Scripps College,
Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. One of the Claremont Colleges, the college has a curricular emphasis on the social sciences, behavioral sciences, international programs, and media studies. Pitzer is k ...
, and
Harvey Mudd College Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a private college in Claremont, California, focused on science and engineering. It is part of the Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds and resources. The college enrolls 902 undergraduate students ...
share dining halls, libraries, and other facilities throughout the contiguous campuses. All five colleges, along with
Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate ( Pomona College, Claremont McKenna ...
and the
Keck Graduate Institute Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) is a private graduate school in Claremont, California. Founded by Henry Riggs in 1997, it is the seventh and newest member of the Claremont Colleges. History Henry Riggs, then president of Harvey Mudd College, ...
, are part of the Claremont University Consortium. Notable benefits of being in the consortium include equal access to seven dining halls and 10 additional on-campus eateries, the fifth largest private library collection in California, interaction with over 7,000 students, access to programs such as Harvey Mudd's Clinic Program and Claremont McKenna's Semester in Washington (DC) program, and the opportunity to do a housing exchange with a student at another college. Most events sponsored by each school are open to students from all of the Claremont Colleges, including invited speakers and performers, employment and recruiting events, and social events.


Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum

The Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum hosts more than one hundred dinner and lecture events with speakers representing a range of disciplines and ideological perspectives each year, serving as the college's central intellectual and social hub. The Athenaeum hosts speakers four nights a week, and also serves daily afternoon tea in its library, featuring chocolate-covered strawberries and pastries. Afternoon tea is free to students, faculty and staff. The Athenaeum has hosted such speakers as former
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, former
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Newt Gingrich, authors Gore Vidal and
Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and ...
,
cybernetics Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson ma ...
expert
Kevin Warwick Kevin Warwick (born 9 February 1954) is an English engineer and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Coventry University. He is known for his studies on direct interfaces between computer systems and the human nervous system, and has also don ...
, former Attorney General Janet Reno, filmmaker
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, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Prime Minister of Israel
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, ''
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'' columnist
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, Supreme Court Justice
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, U2 frontman and activist
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, CNN journalist
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, former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, ''New York Times'' columnist
Maureen Dowd Maureen Brigid Dowd (; born January 14, 1952) is an American columnist for '' The New York Times'' and an author. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Dowd worked for ''The Washington Star'' and '' Time'', writing news, sports and feature article ...
, Harvard Professor
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, former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of State
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, retired U.S. Army General Stanley A. McChrystal and former governor of
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and 2012 presidential candidate
Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts ...
.


Housing

As a residential community, student life is centered on campus with 96% of students living on campus; four years of housing is guaranteed. Claremont's dorms are divided into three regions: North Quad, Mid Quad, and South Quad. In addition, the student apartments sit on the East edge of campus, and are occupied primarily by seniors. All dorm rooms are attended to by housekeeping staff every week. North Quad is made up of Appleby, Boswell, Green and Wohlford Halls, which were the campus's first dorms. In north quad, every room opens to the outdoors instead of opening to an interior hallway. North quad rooms are all doubles grouped into suites of four rooms that share a bathroom. CMC's Mid Quad is home to Beckett, Berger, Benson, Phillips, Crown, Marks and Claremont Halls, which feature long interior corridors, double and single rooms, large shared-bathroom facilities and all-dorm lounge areas. Berger, Claremont and Benson Halls are connected, and make up a larger building known on campus as BCB. As of 2022, Claremont Hall has been renamned to Valach Hall, therefore changing BCB into BVB. The tallest buildings in Claremont are "The Towers", Auen, Fawcett, and Stark Halls, which make up South Quad. Each tower has seven floors with approximately twelve students per floor. Each floor has a common area and a large shared bathroom, while there is also an all-dorm lounge area on the ground floor. Stark Hall, the newest of the South Quad dorms, is substance-free. Auen and Fawcett underwent complete interior renovations in the summer of 2008. The Student Apartments lie to the east of the college's athletic facilities and to the west of Claremont Boulevard. Each apartment is divided into four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Until recently, half the apartments were reserved for men and half for women, and apartments were allotted based on credits. In any given year, most of CMC's 260–300 seniors can live in the apartments. Living in the apartments is considered highly desirable amongst CMC's senior class. Seniors get the chance to live with three friends of their choice, and they also have the option to stay on a meal plan and eat at one of the 5-C dining halls, or cook for themselves. Apartment dwellers do not get the maid service of the dorms, but they do get a
cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
hookup. Noise levels are more manageable, and tend to be quiet during much of the week and in the days leading up to thesis, and loud from Thursday to Saturday. Most parties and social events at the apartments take place between buildings.


Student government

The Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College (ASCMC) is the official student government of Claremont McKenna College. ASCMC is composed of an executive board and a student senate. The executive board consists of both elected and appointed positions. It is chaired by the President, and meets weekly to discuss long-term projects and endeavors. Permanent committees led by members of executive board include the events team, the diversity & inclusion committee, and the residential life committee. Additionally, each class president has a cabinet to carry out class programming. The Senate is chaired by the executive vice president of ASCMC, and is tasked with passing resolutions to influence institutional policy, funding student-led initiatives, and bringing in administrators and other college stakeholders for town hall discussions. Senate has four standing committees: administrative affairs & appropriations (AAA), environmental affairs, campus improvements, and student engagement.


Affinity Groups

CMC has a host of identity-based clubs and organizations, including 1 Gen, for first generation college students), Asian Pacific American Mentors, Black Student Associations, ¡Mi Gente! (for Latinx students), Sexuality and Gender Alliance, Women's Forum, and International Connect. These clubs and organizations host a variety of support programming and social events for students to participate in.


Student journalism

CMC attracts many students with an interest in journalism. Its student publications include the following: * '' The Student Life'': ''The Student Life'' (abbreviated ''TSL'') was founded in 1889. It is the oldest college paper in Southern California and the largest media organization at the Claremont Colleges, and is generally regarded as the colleges' publication of record. It prints weekly on Fridays, featuring news, opinions, lifestyle articles, and sports coverage of all five undergraduate Claremont Colleges. It is jointly funded by the 5C student governments. * ''The Golden Antlers'': ''The Golden Antlers'' is a satirical and humorous campus publication founded in 2012. Although Claremont McKenna is its host, it is staffed by students from all five Claremont Colleges. * ''The CMC Forum'': The ''Forum'' is the oldest CMC-specific publication on campus. It features campus news, opinions, and lifestyle articles. Although originally a newspaper, the ''Forum'' is now solely an online news source. * ''The Claremont Radius:'' The ''Claremont Radius'' is a student-founded, student-run, and student-intended online publication that aims to spark political discourse across campus by providing students of all political backgrounds the tools they need for effective debate and discussion on the big issues affecting our society. Founded in 2015, it seeks to provide bi-partisan coverage on issues it discusses. * ''The Claremont Independent'': The ''Independent'', founded in 1996, is a magazine of conservative and
libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
writers that has frequently produced stories about the political culture of the Claremont Colleges that have been picked up by national conservative media outlets and drawn intense criticism from many students. It is funded entirely through private donations.


Athletics

Athletes from CMC compete alongside athletes from
Harvey Mudd College Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a private college in Claremont, California, focused on science and engineering. It is part of the Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds and resources. The college enrolls 902 undergraduate students ...
and Scripps College as the
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags and Athenas The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags (men) and Athenas (women) is the joint intercollegiate sports program of Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, and Scripps College, all located in Claremont, California. The teams participate in the ...
. The teams participate in
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
Division III in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The mascot for the men's teams is Stanley the Stag, and the women's teams are the Athenas. Their colors are cardinal and gold. In 2016, a new 144,000 square-foot recreation facility, named the Roberts Pavilion, was completed.


Athletics history

According to the Division III Fall Learfield Director's Cup Standings for the 2016–2017 year, CMS ranks 12th among all Division III programs, and first among SCIAC colleges.


Sports

There are 21 men's and women's teams. Men's sports * Baseball * Basketball * Cross country * Football * Golf * Soccer * Swimming and diving * Tennis * Track and field * Water polo Women's sports *Basketball *Cross country *Golf *Lacrosse *Soccer *Softball *Swimming and diving *Tennis *Track and field *Volleyball *Water polo


Athletic facilities

* Baseball — Bill Arce Field * Basketball and Volleyball — Roberts Pavilion * Football and Lacrosse — John Zinda Field * Softball — Softball Field * Soccer — John Pritzlaff Field * Swimming and Diving — Matt M. Axelrood Pool * Tennis — Biszantz Family Tennis Center * Track and Field — Burns Track Complex


Rivals

The other sports combination of the Claremont Colleges, and CMS' primary rival, is the team made up of Pomona College and
Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. One of the Claremont Colleges, the college has a curricular emphasis on the social sciences, behavioral sciences, international programs, and media studies. Pitzer is k ...
known as the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens (P-P).


Traditions

* All incoming freshmen participate in W.O.A!, or "Welcome Orientation Adventure" W.O.A! is a student-run pre-orientation program. Options have included backpacking, camping and rock-climbing at Yosemite, canoeing down the Colorado River and community service in Los Angeles. Each trip is led by current students. W.O.A.! allows incoming students to develop friendships and get a sense for the college community before the formal beginning of their college careers. * The "Madrigal Feast" was an annual dinner held in the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum. Both current students as well as alumni typically attended. Guests were treated to a medieval-themed feast, complete with wassail and a spirited musical performance put on by other students in medieval dress. This 26 year tradition was suspended in 2009. * The Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College host a "Monte Carlo" night which doubles as the school's homecoming dance. This tradition dates back to 1949. Several of Claremont McKenna College's traditions are water-related: * At noon on the due dates of senior theses, the students turn in their theses to the registrar, after which they are given a bottle of champagne by the registrar. In recent years, the class president has provided the champagne. The students spend the remainder of the afternoon in the fountains at the school, drinking, singing, celebrating and enjoying the warm California sun. *At midnight of a student's birthday, their friends will throw them in the fountains in the center of campus while singing "Happy Birthday", a tradition known as "ponding".


The Consortium

All seven colleges are part of the Claremont University Consortium, also known as "the 7 Cs". Together the campuses cover over and enroll over 6,000 students. In addition there are over 3,500 faculty and staff and more than 2,500 courses available. Student life revolves around the colleges as they interact socially and also share seven dining halls, four main libraries and other facilities spread throughout the campuses. Notable facilities include: * Honnold/Mudd Library and the Libraries of the Claremont Colleges, the largest collection of any liberal arts college * W.M. Keck Science Center * Monsour Counseling Center * Huntley Bookstore Students attending Claremont McKenna can enroll in up to 2/3 of their classes at the other undergraduate colleges and can also major at any other college if the major is not offered at CMC. This is the general academic policy at the schools and is meant to give students the resources of a larger university while still maintaining the qualities of a small, liberal-arts college.


Research institutes

CMC sponsors twelve different on-campus research institutes and centers. They seek to produce new research and publications while involving undergraduate students in rigorous academic work. * The Berger Institute for Work, Family and Children * The Financial Economics Institute * The Center for Human Rights Leadership * The Family of Benjamin Z. Gould Center for Humanistic Studies * The Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies * Th
Kravis Lab for Social Impact
* The Kravis Leadership Institute * The Lowe Institute of Political Economy * The Roberts Environmental Center * The Rose Institute of State and Local Government * The Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom in the Modern World * The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship


Fundraising

Claremont McKenna completed the largest fundraising campaign ever initiated by a liberal arts college, raising $635 million. The campaign for Claremont McKenna fulfilled for commitments in five priorities: * $110 million for students: need-based financial aid and merit scholarships, internships, research, speaker series and other experiences * $110 million for faculty: chairs, research and new curricula * $100 million for facilities: new buildings, renovations and master planning projects * $200 million for the Robert Day Scholars Program * $80 million for The Fund for CMC: operating costs As part of the campaign, the college built the Kravis Center, an academic building that includes classrooms, faculty offices and research areas. The building, designed by Rafael Viñoly, was completed in 2011. It is named after 1967 alumnus Henry Kravis of
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strate ...
who donated $75 million for the building.


Notable alumni and faculty

Notable alumni include: * Political consultant Thomas B. Hofeller * Former Chairman and CEO of
TCW Group TCW Group is an asset management firm based in Los Angeles, California. History Founded by Robert Addison Day in 1971 and headquartered in Los Angeles, TCW manages a broad range of investment products. The TCW Group was originally known as Tr ...
Robert Day (1965) * Founding partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) George Roberts (1966) * Chairman and CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. Michael S. Jeffries (1966) * Founding partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) Henry Kravis (1967) * 60th
Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives The chaplain of the United States House of Representatives is the officer of the United States House of Representatives responsible for beginning each day's proceedings with a prayer. The House cites the first half of Article 1, Section 2, Claus ...
, Patrick J. Conroy (1972) * California
Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
and House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (1975) *59th Mayor of
Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...
and former CEO of Kaplan, Inc.
Tom Leppert Thomas Chris Leppert (born June 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician who is the former CEO of Kaplan, Inc., one of the world's largest education providers. He had oversight of the company's operating divisions (Kaplan Test Prep an ...
(1977) * Founder of Perella Weinberg Partners and former head of European Markets at
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, Ho ...
, Peter Weinberg (1979) * Chief Investment Officer of Cascade Investment and the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was ...
Michael Larson Paul Michael Larson (May 10, 1949 – February 16, 1999) was an American television game show contestant from Ohio who appeared on the CBS program '' Press Your Luck'' in 1984. Larson is notable for winning US$110,237 () in cash and prizes, at t ...
(1980) * S&P Global President and CEO Douglas Peterson (1980) * Co-Director of th
Center on Work, Technology, and Organization
at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
, Pamela J. Hinds (1982) * Governor of
Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
Steve Bullock Steve, Steven, or Stephen Bullock may refer to: *Steve Bullock (British politician) (born 1953), first directly elected mayor of the London Borough of Lewisham *Steve Bullock (American politician) Stephen Clark Bullock (born April 11, 1966) is ...
(1988) *CEO of
Accenture Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accentu ...
Julie Sweet (1989) *''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' White House correspondent
Michael D. Shear Michael D. Shear is an American journalist who is a White House correspondent for ''The New York Times''. He previously worked at ''The Washington Post'', where he was part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team that covered the Virginia Tech shootin ...
(1990) *Social entrepreneur and founder of Ethos Water Peter Thum (1990) *Dean of University of Iowa College of Engineering Harriet B. Nemhard (1991) *CEO of Samba TV and co-founder of BitTorrent, Inc.
Ashwin Navin Ashwin Navin is an Indian-American entrepreneur, who is the CEO and co-founder of Samba TV, a data and analytics service that measures television viewership using opt-in data from Internet-connected devices and set-top boxes. The company has been ...
(1999) *Entrepreneur Daniel Kan, founder and CPO of
Cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...
(2009) * Anti-abortion activist David Daleiden (2010) * Actor and comedian
Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...
(did not graduate) *Los Angeles City Attorney Michael Feuer (transferred) Notable faculty include: * Political scientist Minxin Pei * Political scientist Ward Elliott *Senior Economist at the Presidential Council of Economic Advisers Eric Helland * Charles Kesler, noted conservative scholar * Arabic scholar
Bassam Frangieh Bassam Frangieh (Arabic: بسام فرنجيه) is a scholar of contemporary Arabic literature and culture. He is best known for his pedagogical innovations in the study of the Arabic language, as well as his translations of modern Arabic poet ...
* Author Jamaica Kincaid *Political scientist Ken Miller *Historian Wendy Lower *Psychologist Diane Helpern *Political scientist and environmental economist William Ascher *Presidential speechwriter and comedian Mort Sahl *German popular historian
Golo Mann Golo Mann (born Angelus Gottfried Thomas Mann; 27 March 1909 – 7 April 1994) was a popular German historian and essayist. Having completed a doctorate in philosophy under Karl Jaspers at Heidelberg, in 1933 he fled Hitler's Germany. He followe ...
*Government consultant and felon
Alan Heslop David Alan Heslop (born 1938) is an American academic and government consultant and advisor. He was born in 1938 in England and gained BA and MA degrees from Magdalen College, Oxford. He later became a naturalized American citizen, and gaine ...
, founding director of the Rose Institute and former dean of faculty


References


External links

*
Website of ''The Student Life'', the 5C newspaperOfficial athletics website
* {{authority control Universities and colleges in Los Angeles County, California Educational institutions established in 1946 Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges San Gabriel Valley 1946 establishments in California Liberal arts colleges in California Conservatism in the United States Private universities and colleges in California